Some legal analysts say it's the admitted murderer's best chance of escaping the death penalty.

By pleading guilty to four murders with the death penalty still on the table, Michael Eric Ballard and his defense team are hoping they can convince at least one of the 12 community members who will sit in judgment of him that, while a killer, he doesn't deserve to die.

It is extremely rare for a defendant to admit to first-degree murder while still facing the possibility of capital punishment, though it is not unheard of. But legal analysts say it may be the 37-year-old mass killer's best chance of avoiding death row.

In a full-blown trial, Ballard faced more than a week of graphic testimony about the Northampton murders and his actions before, during and after them. By moving straight to the question of life or death, that evidence will be more limited, in a proceeding in which a unanimous verdict is required for a death sentence.

"If I plead him guilty, a lot of the details with the guilt phase, a lot of the goriness, is going to be kept out," said Matthew Potts, a Bethlehem defense attorney who has brought two capital cases to trial.

"When you're doing a death penalty trial, that jury is hearing everything," Burke said. Ballard's sentencing hearing, however, "I'm sure is not going to be anywhere as involved as far as the witnesses they put on."

On Wednesday, Ballard admitted to knifing to death his ex-girlfriend, her father, her grandfather and a neighbor at a Northampton home last summer. The plea came just three days after The Morning Call published an interview in which Ballard said, "I don't want to die. I don't have a death wish."

On June 26, Ballard stabbed to death Denise Merhi, 39; her father, Dennis Marsh, 62; her grandfather, Alvin Marsh Jr., 87; and neighbor Steven Zernhelt, 53, who heard screams at 1917 Lincoln Ave. and tried to help. Prosecutors labeled the murders a "revenge killing" because Ballard had learned Merhi was involved with another man.

At the time of the slayings, Ballard had recently been paroled on a 15- to 30-year sentence for stabbing and slitting the throat of an Allentown man in 1991, then stealing the dead man's wallet and car.

In the Northampton killings, District Attorney John Morganelli offered no deals, saying Ballard should be executed. On Thursday, the prosecutor said that while the plea will limit what he can present, the jury will still be presented a lot of details on the murders, including crime-scene and autopsy photos.

"A death penalty hearing cannot be a sanitized hearing," Morganelli said. "The jury gets to see what the guy did. They need to know what happened."

And what happened, Morganelli added, "is the worst crime that's ever been committed in Northampton County."

Morganelli said he "can't recall" a plea like Ballard's occurring in the Lehigh Valley. Burke said it "rarely, rarely happens." But there is precedent for it, even in a county as near as Monroe.

Last year, Michael J. Parrish, 25, of Chestnuthill Township admitted gunning down his wife and 20-month-old son in 2009 while in a jealous rage. The death penalty hearing for Parrish, a former prison guard who has Nazi tattoos, is scheduled for July.

Jury selection in Ballard's case is slated to begin May 2. With his plea, it will be with a jury from Northampton County, which rarely imposes death sentences. In a full-blown trial, the jury was going to be picked from rural Wayne County, due to pretrial publicity that included regular mention of Ballard's prior killing.

At sentencing, Ballard's past murder will be known to all, since it is one of three aggravating factors prosecutors will argue to justify the death penalty. The others are the multiple murders and the killing of witnesses who could otherwise have testified against Ballard.

Chief Public Defender Michael Corriere said at Wednesday's hearing that he will present evidence of Ballard's mental state as a reason he shouldn't be put to death. That and the testimony of "people who knew him" will be the basis of Ballard's defense at sentencing, Corriere said.

Ballard's plea came as Corriere said medical experts concluded his client couldn't offer a viable mental-health defense at trial.

"You were not legally insane when you committed these acts?" Judge Edward Smith asked Ballard.

"That is true, your honor," Ballard told him.

The cons of Ballard's decision are obvious: He's guaranteed at least life without parole, and he's one step closer to a death verdict.

Potts, the Bethlehem defense attorney, said the facts of Ballard's case made it unlikely he was going to escape a first-degree murder conviction. With the guilty plea, Ballard's defense team will also be able to argue that he has taken responsibility and feels remorse, he said.

Among the evidence prosecutors had: Ballard was arrested after he was found in a wrecked car two miles from the Northampton home bleeding profusely from knife wounds. When a state trooper asked him what happened, Ballard told him, "It's obvious, I just killed everyone," the trooper has testified.

"We're giving up your chances for acquittal, but boy, he didn't have anything anyway," Potts said.